Dwayne With this show, we are going to fight for a more rational world, mostly by looking through the lens of the philosophy of science. We will raise awareness of issues within the philosophy of science and present alternative and rational approaches.

Ashna Yes, and today we are going to tell you a little bit about the show’s agenda and we will provide a brief overview of some of the irrationalities present in the philosophy of science.

DwayneYou may want to subscribe via iTunes, our RSS feed or one of our other subscription methods. There is also Facebook and Twitter. You can do all of this from the shownotes or the media player on the website, at metaphysicsofphysics.com

Alright, let’s get started.

This show is about a rational, objective approach to the philosophy of science. If you are interested in the philosophy of science, then this show is for you.

As you may be aware, it is said that Plato carved “Let none ignorant of geometry enter here”. Well, we have not carved “Let none ignorant of philosophy” upon the entrance to these halls.

This is not Plato’s Academy and you do not need to know any philosophy or geometry to walk these halls. However, you might learn a little about the philosophical problems in science.

AshnaIndeed. Our approach to philosophy is much closer to that of Aristotle or Ayn Rand. We believe in an objective, rational approach to science and that is what you are going to get.

If you keep listening, this is not the last you will hear of our spiritual and philosophical enemy Plato. And his many disciples that have followed him through the last few thousand years. In fact, We will be hearing from a few of these disciples later in this episode.

We will be discussing the philosophy of science, focusing heavily on physics and mathematics. More specifically, the many irrationalities that are found within the modern philosophy of science, especially within the philosophy of physics. We will spend a lot of time raising awareness of these issues and then providing alternative ideas.

What are some of the topics we have in store for our listeners?

DwayneThe is the Big Bang, the impossibility of strong AI, logical fallacies, why string theory is not even wrong, a fake interview with Niels Bohr and many others.

We will be talking about a lot of things from physics that bother us, and we think should bother any rational person. Now, we have issues with the standard interpretations of things like quantum theory, relativity (special and general) and other parts of modern physics, this should not be taken as a dismissal of these fields.

We are questioning the standard interpretation of quantum physics, not dismissing the entire field. We are not denying that GR and quantum physics are useful and that without them we would not have things like GPS and integrated circuits.

Bohr and Einstein, pioneers in quantum theory and relativity. We shall be discussing their work and their debates at length.

Ashna Well, the mathematics of quantum theory and relativity is good stuff, right? I mean, all that checks out, as established by a lot of different experiments. As well as certain other key aspects of their theoretical structure.

DwayneYeah, what we question is the way these theories are normally interpreted.

For instance, it is widely believed that quantum mechanics shows that particles exist in a superposition of indefinite states until observed. It is believed that GR shows that space is curved. But are these things true? We do not believe so. However, one could interpret GR and quantum physics to suggest such a thing.

It is these kinds of interpretations which we take issue with when it comes to many of the things we will be discussing within modern physics.

Let’s go over some examples of the kinds of issues we have within modern physics today. This should provide an insight into the kinds of issues we have in mind.